- "Morning 4587, beautiful day!"
- —Peter Yorke mocking Oliver Queen[src]
Peter Yorke (born January 1, 1978)[1] is a former prison guard of Slabside Maximum Security Prison.
Peter was fired after being reported by the other guards for attempting to kill Oliver Queen.
Peter is also the husband of Jenna Yorke and the father of Noah Yorke.
Biography[]
Early life[]
Yorke was born on January 1, 1978. At the age of 19, he joined the military and served eight years in the United States Army; after being injured in the line of duty, he started working at Slabside Maximum Security Prison. He worked there for 12 years. Although Yorke had a clean record as a prison guard, he was not well-liked by the inmates and the other guards in the prison due to how badly he treated them. During his time as a guard, Yorke has met B. Dunbar, Jarrett Parker, Daniel Brickwell, Ben Turner, Derek Sampson, Magee and several other guards, and inmates.
At some point, Yorke met and married a woman named Jenna, and they had a son named Noah.
Watching Inmate 4587[]
After Oliver Queen's fight with Ricardo Diaz and his surrendering himself to the FBI, Yorke oversaw Oliver's arrival to Slabside Maximum Security Prison.[2] After Oliver Queen became an inmate, Yorke greeted him in his cell every morning when the latter woke up. After breaking up a fight with Oliver against Danny Brickwell, Ben Turner and Derek Sampson, Yorke sent Turner to solitary confinement. Yorke went to Oliver's cell and blamed him for starting the fight, even though Oliver was trying to defend himself, before telling him he had a visitor. The next day, Yorke went to Oliver's cell to inform him that he had another visitor. One day when the inmates were released into the courtyard, Oliver knocked out Brickwell before proceeding to attack another inmate who had knocked him out in an earlier fight. Yorke ordered him to stand down but Oliver ignored him, so Yorke took him into solitary.[3]
After two days, Yorke released Oliver. While inspecting Oliver's cell, Oliver tried to warn him that Brickwell wanted him dead, but he ignored his warning and told Oliver that he was nothing but a vigilante. Oliver later took matters in his own hands, by stabbing himself and blaming it on Yorke to get him fired, despite Yorke denying it.[1]
After Yorke's removal from Slabside and Oliver breaking up Brickwell's fight club and Jarrett Parker's unethical practices, Yorke was replaced by a guard named Felton, as Oliver's handler. Similar to Yorke, Felton made sure everyone in prison followed the rules, especially Dunbar.[4]
Anti-Monitor Crisis[]
During the Anti-Monitor Crisis, Yorke, as well as everyone in the multiverse except for the seven Paragons, was killed in an antimatter wave by the Anti-Monitor on December 10, 2019,[5] only to be restored a month later after the Paragons and the Spectre created a new universe.[6]
Personality[]
- "The right thing? Is that what you were doing, running around in that costume? You turned the law into a joke. The Green Arrow's very existence invited criminals into your city. You think you're some kind of hero. Have you ever stopped to think maybe all you've done is make things worse?"
- —Peter Yorke to Oliver Queen[src]
Yorke is extremely arrogant and egotistical to the point of being delusional, as he believes that he runs Slabside Maximum Security Prison, when it is the prison warden. Despite being a law-abiding man and having a clean record, Yorke was not well-respected among the guards and inmates due to how badly he treats them and the belief that he runs the prison. As noted by Oliver Queen, Stanley Dover and Ben Turner, Yorke is a "hard-ass", "jerk" and a "dick", as he treats the inmates like slaves.
Yorke is also arrogant towards individuals that he believes are inferior to him, like Oliver. Yorke enjoyed treating Oliver badly out of all the other inmates. Yorke would rudely wake Oliver every morning by slamming his baton on the cell bars and mock him about being an inmate of Slabside.
Yorke is even willing to go as far as to blame Oliver for things he didn't do, such as starting a fight with Turner, Danny Brickwell and Derek Sampson; completely disregarding the fact that they attacked Oliver, forcing Oliver to try to defend himself. Yorke even listens in on Oliver's conversations whenever Oliver is being visited, even Yorke is not part of the conversation similar to Yorke listening in on Oliver speaking to John Diggle when John came to visit Oliver in prison.
Yorke always finds a way to anger every inmate and likes to take out his issues on them, after Oliver assaulted Brickwell, Ben and Sampson, a fight that Yorke did not break up. He angered Oliver by telling him that they both know better Oliver is not a hero due to Yorke growing up with wealthy children who thought the laws didn't apply to them and mocked Oliver about being an inmate at Slabside as well as calling him a bastard even before Oliver retaliated against Brickwell, Sampson and Turner, Yorke warned him to not be a hero.
After Oliver succeeded in beating up Sampson, Brickwell and Turner, Yorke ordered the guards to send Oliver to the hole. Yorke seems to dehumanize only Oliver since Yorke always referred to him by his inmate number as opposed to his real name.
Eventually, Yorke started to get on the nerves of every guard and inmate in the prison to the point that they wanted him out of the prison, dead or fired. These negative traits of his made it easy for his co-workers such as B. Dunbar to believe that he tried to kill Oliver, especially due to several complaints made about him by the other inmates. His self-righteous nature aside, as noted by Oliver, he was at his core a law-abiding man.
Yorke delusionally believes that he is in charge of Slabside meaning that there is no corruption in prison, but Yorke was wrong, Yorke was unaware of this, but all the guards in the prison, including his best friend, B. Dunbar, became corrupt at some point and agreed to be on Brickwell's payroll. Brickwell, Sampson, Turner and Dunbar (correctly) knew that Yorke wouldn't agree to be on Brickwell's payroll, due to Yorke wanting to stay on the side of the law.
As a result, Brickwell schemed to kill Yorke, since Brickwell (correctly) knew that Yorke would interfere with his plans if Yorke ever found out, Brickwell had no hesitation in killing Yorke as Brickwell vowed to do it if Oliver didn't. Ironically, while Yorke thought poorly of Oliver, Oliver tried to warn him about Brickwell wanting him dead, but Yorke ignored Oliver's warnings and insulted his past about being a vigilante.
Deciding Oliver had to take matters into his own hands, he confronted Yorke while he was standing guard in the cafeteria and stood up to his behavior, Yorke tried to intimidate Oliver into standing down, but Oliver asked Yorke if his wife, Jenna and his son, Noah knew that he was "such a dick". Getting enraged that Oliver knew about his family, Yorke tried to attack Oliver with a baton but Oliver stabbed himself before Yorke could make a move against him and started pretending that Yorke stabbed him. Yorke was then shocked that Oliver stabbed himself and denied it.
Before Yorke could take a step forward, Dunbar and the rest of the corrupt guards restrained Yorke, everyone in Slabside including the guards and the inmates knew that Yorke didn't stab Oliver but they still had him thrown out of the prison despite Yorke denying it, Yorke was still unaware that the only reason why Oliver stabbed himself was to protect him from Brickwell and that Oliver tried to help him without resorting to violence, but he didn't give Oliver a choice. Although Brickwell was pleased that Yorke could no longer interfere with his plans, he was disappointed that Yorke was still alive.
Yorke was unaware that the prison psychiatrist, Jarrett Parker, officer Magee and the other guards in the prison were lobotmizing the inmates down at Level Two. At some point, Yorke did meet Parker and Magee, but not only that, Yorke did know that Level Two existed, but he was the only guard that was unaware of what was happening down there, if Yorke had known what was happening in Level Two, he would've blew the whistle on Parker since what Parker was doing down in Level Two was illegal. Under Yorke's watch, the prison became more dangerous and problematic especially for him.
Yorke was also unaware that Ricardo Diaz was taking advantage of the corruption in Slabside to get Talia al Ghul, an inmate that Yorke met before to orchestrate a hit on Oliver. Although Yorke hated Oliver, he was still willing to protect him from Brickwell, Sampson, and Turner when they attacked him. It can be noted that Yorke's hatred for Oliver is mostly out of jealously as Yorke was seen watching Oliver workout.
Yorke was not only delusional, but also a coward: when Oliver was confronting him about his bad behavior, Yorke refused to explain why he does all this and tried to intimidate Oliver into leaving him alone, proving that Yorke is nothing more than a pathetic coward who tries to put up a tough act, although Yorke was delusional and abusive towards the inmates, Turner, an inmate that Yorke also abused, credited Oliver for saving Yorke as Turner knew that the guards were on Brickwell's payroll.
As noted by Stanley, Yorke would do just about anything to protect his wife, Jenna and their son, Noah from harm, even if it means breaking the law: for example, Oliver angered Yorke by mentioning the names of his wife and son, fearing that Oliver was going to inform the other inmates about his wife and son to be put in harm's way and being annoyed that a vigilante knew about his family.
Yorke was about to break the law by assaulting Oliver with a baton, even though Oliver naming his wife and son was not illegal. Despite being a family man, Yorke refuses to respect families of the inmates, even when they are being put in danger, as Yorke refused to allow Oliver to spend more time with his wife, Felicity Smoak after Yorke learned that she was attacked.
When Oliver begged Yorke for more time, Yorke refused and reminded Oliver that he was an inmate which Yorke is willing to dehumanize the inmates when Brickwell was scheming to kill Yorke, Oliver tried to warn Yorke about it, but Yorke willingly tossed a picture of Oliver's family, his wife, Felicity and his son, William to the ground and stepped on it when he was going to insult Oliver for being Green Arrow.
Despite Oliver saving Yorke from Brickwell, Yorke is still believed to be a corrupt guard who got fired for trying to stab Oliver to death with a knife.
Appearances[]
Arrow[]
Season 6[]
Season 7[]
- "Inmate 4587"
- "The Longbow Hunters"
- "Crossing Lines" (mentioned)
- "The Slabside Redemption" (mentioned)
Trivia[]
- Yorke shares several similarities with Jacob Kane in season 1 of Batwoman.
- Both work as law enforcement officers.
- Both worked as members of the United States Army.
- Both resent the wealthy due to their past experiences with them, such as Jacob Kane resenting Bruce Wayne for his playboy behavior and Yorke resenting Oliver due to believing him to be a playboy with the belief that the law has no appliance to him.
- Both oppose the presence of vigilantes, since they believe vigilantes make cities dangerous by drawing out criminals.
- Both believe in the law but are willing to break it if it means protecting their families from harm.
- Both were unaware that there was corruption happening in the organizations they worked for.
Behind the scenes[]
- Ryan Jefferson Booth, Yorke's actor, previously portrayed Andre in DC's Legends of Tomorrow.